


Something You Need to Hear

by ChiaraD



Series: Seal Team Week 2021 [5]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Family Dynamics, Gen, Moral Lessons, Parents and Teens, SEAL Team (TV) Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28957455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiaraD/pseuds/ChiaraD
Summary: Teenagers can be a handful, but raising them to be good people can feel daunting when you know biases and prejudice lurk in the shadows. When the kids break the rules, Ray and Naima have to sit them down for an honest talk.Seal Team Week 2021 prompt #5: “It’s things like these that keep me up at night.”
Relationships: Naima Perry/Ray Perry, Perry Family
Series: Seal Team Week 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113896
Kudos: 10





	Something You Need to Hear

Being in the military, Ray’s learned the value of rest and how to fall asleep just about anywhere at any time. It’s something he was taught early on in his career, since war zones mean being on duty 24/7 and you’d better learn to get whatever sleep you can otherwise you’ll lose your mind and be completely ineffectual once the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. It’s a skill he’s used outside of the military, too, including when Jameelah and RJ were first born and he needed to sleep whenever possible between the frequent newborn cries. Whenever Naima would wake to their cries she would know what they needed and if it was anything besides needing a breast she knew Ray could step in and handle it so she could go back to sleep; then once he came back to bed he’d be asleep in less than a minute even if she was still only dozing off.

Unfortunately, the ability to sleep anywhere at any time can be taken for granted; Ray is learning that the hard way, now that Jameelah is in high school and started dating while RJ is in middle school and starting to do stupid stuff with his friends. When Jason had been going through the same with his kids Ray had teased him about it; but, now it’s his turn to experience the extended bouts of waiting and worrying.

“Ray, honey, she’ll be home soon. Staring out the window isn’t going to get her home any faster.” Naima slips her arms around his chest from behind and rests her cheek on his back as he stares out the window next to the front door, waiting for their daughter to come home from her date. “She has another twenty minutes until her curfew.”

With the precise focus of a well-trained sniper he’s staring at the corner where the lawn meets the driveway and the street, the dim fingers of the streetlight a few doors down just grazing along the dew covered grass and shimmering along the blacktop. “I know,” he says as rests his hands over hers on his chest and slowly rubs his thumbs along the top of her knuckles. “But she’s my baby girl and I’ve seen what kind of a world we live in.” His eyes slowly drift from the end of the driveway up towards the house as his mind begins to flip through snapshots of memories from countless missions around the world where the most innocent of people have been brutalized for no good reason except because they exist.

Naima can feel Ray’s heart rate slowly climb, the powerful thump pulsating against her fingertips. She worries about her babies, too, but not with the same voracity as her husband. When she’d brought Jameelah home with a beautiful homecoming dress her freshman year and Ray had insisted on approving of it, she’d had to remind him that Jameelah is a young woman and no longer just his little girl so that when she walked out in the light blue gown with small cutouts at the chest and sides he wouldn’t flip out. Naima had stood next to him, her hand in his, feeling the tension in his body as he told his all-grown-up Jameelah June how beautiful and mature she looked; as soon as teenage ears were out of range she’d watched him collapse on the sofa with his head in his hands, defeated. “You know, if she sees you in the window when she gets home she’s going to purposefully push your buttons.”

“Maybe she needs a reminder of what happens when my buttons are pushed,” he says as he blinks his eyes a few times and returns his gaze to the driveway. “Maybe I should call and remind her that I’m waiting for her to get home.”

“Now, that’s _not_ going to happen,” Naima says a little forcefully. She slips her hands off his chest and onto his sides so she can make him turn away from the window and face her. “That would start a fight because she’d remind you how many times she waited for you to come home, either because of your job or because you were out drinking with Bravo, and then you’d get resentful. You two are both headstrong and single-minded when you feel challenged.” When he frowns down at her she adds, “She is your daughter.” Her expression lightens a little more as she continues, “Because of that I know she’s okay.”

The frustration that’s putting Ray on edge deflates as he looks down at his wife, his rock, his emotional touchstone. She fills in all the little cracks and files down the sharp edges that have been left from years in the military and living as a Black man in a society that doesn’t always appreciate him for who he is. He leans down and gives her a little peck on the lips then smiles. “Just because I’m not looking out the window,” he pauses as he steps around her and leads her towards the couch with his arm wrapped around her back, “and walking away from the door doesn’t mean you’re right.” She chuckles and he kisses the side of her head. “It just means I don’t have a good response to that so I’m not gunna try.”

They settle back on the couch, Naima nestled comfortably against Ray’s side, as they go back to watching the movie Naima had insisted on for their Friday night together. Even as they try to relax, she can feel him getting a little tenser with each passing minute. 10 o’clock sounds from the clock in the hall, but the door remains unopened. He shifts and she pats his leg to remind him to remain calm. 10:15 comes and he’s completely given up on the movie.

Finally, car doors slamming shut in the driveway signals Jameela’s return and Ray is about to launch himself off the couch, but Naima stops him with a firm yet gentle hand against his chest. Instead, she walks over to the doorway and opens it to watch the bodies approaching the front door. Shocked at what she’s seeing, she briefly forgets about Ray and steps outside.

“Raymond Perry Junior what are you doing out at this time of night? It’s 10:23 pm!” Naima quickly grabs at his collar and partially drags him inside as Jameelah slows behind them along with her boyfriend, Andres. “I should throttle you because the last time I saw you it was eight-thirty and you were sitting in your bed reading!”

Ray is standing in the doorway before Naima can even call his name, his arms crossed over his chest and his feet braced wide apart so he fills the doorway even more than his five-foot-nine height would normally deem possible. He stares at his son until he notices, in the corner of his eye, Jameelah turn away to kiss her boyfriend and then lightly shove him back towards his car. “I want all _three_ of you in here, now,” Ray says with a guttural force that effectively grabs their attention as much as he could with physical force. He moves aside only long enough for Naima to essentially drag RJ inside then Jameelah and Andres to silently follow before he shuts the door and stares them down.

Seconds tick by as RJ tries to shrug his mother’s hand away and Andres gets more and more uncomfortable, yet Jameelah is staring right back at her father. The standoff is working against the only teen in the room who hasn’t been through Ray’s interrogation tactics before.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Andres says, followed by a deep breath and an attempt to stand straighter and stronger even as he nervously runs a hand through the twisted curls of his ebony black hair. “I would’ve had Jameelah home in time for curfew, but as we drove down the street we saw RJ at the basketball court with his friends and she insisted we bring him home with us.”

“Andres,” RJ yelps. “It’s bad enough I got caught; do you need to make it worse?” Naima yanks on his collar a little harder, pulling him back towards a chair and making him sit down.

Jameelah huffs loudly and shifts her weight to her other foot. “Dad’s not as scary as he pretends to be. You didn’t have to give in and tell him that.” She looks up at her dad and shifts again, an innocent smile crossing her face as she pulls her hands behind her. “But, since he told you the truth and it’s clearly not our fault, can we be let off the hook for missing curfew?”

Ray looks at the three kids and then at his wife as he tries to stay calm, even though what he really wants is to yell at them all about how the rules exist for a reason and if they don’t follow them they could get hurt or worse. Instead, he throws his arms up in exasperation and turns away from them, taking a few steps away before reeling back with determination in his eyes. “Sit your butts on the couch. I have something I need you all to hear.”

Andres’ shoulders drop as he turns and sits, trying to keep a little distance between him and Jameelah. Jameelah, on the other hand, pushes closer to her boyfriend. Naima stands and walks over next to Ray, effectively signing on to whatever he’s about to say, leaving RJ to casually toss a leg over the arm of the chair in a small act of defiance.

Briefly closing his eyes to compose himself, Ray takes uses a quick round of sniper breathing to try to keep his composure. His voice is softer and flatter as he starts to speak this time. “There are a lot of awful things that happen to kids and teens your age, even in America.” RJ rolls his eyes and starts to interrupt, but Naima shushes him so Ray can continue. “Black kids, even those who can almost pass as white, are at a higher risk of experiencing those awful things, just because of their skin color.” His voice slightly rises and quickens as he adds, “You all know this,” and waves his hands around wildly for a few seconds. Naima puts a calming hand on his back, helping him rein in his emotions once more. “I know you are all good kids when you want to be, but I’m not going to let you get away with breaking our rules when it puts you in danger.” He addresses RJ specifically as his voice begins to break. “An innocent young Black man was shot just two nights ago at a basketball court on the other side of town. Had that happened to you because you snuck out of your room how do you think we’d feel?” RJ slowly lowers his leg down from the arm of the chair as his eyes turn pensive and serious. Ray then turns towards Jameelah and her boyfriend. “Andres, I would’ve preferred you called us so we knew where you were and could come handle it ourselves if we needed to.”

“Yes, sir,” Andres says as he swallows hard and straightens his back.

“And my not-so-little azizam,” Ray says as his eyes begin to glisten slightly, “you’re still young and have a lot to learn about the world. What might feel like smothering and over-protection is actually just us trying to keep you safe and teach you how to be the best person you can be once you’re an adult. Think about all those years when you would worry about me at my job; that’s how I feel whenever I think about you going off into the world without me there to protect you.” He slowly walks forward until he’s standing between his kids. “I’ve seen terrible things happen to innocent kids who look a lot like you all around the world. It’s things like these that keep me up at night, praying that you’ll be spared from ever having to witness or experience any of it back here.” The warmth of Naima’s strong presence moves in next to him and he reaches out to wrap his arm around her. “We can’t protect you from the world, but we are always going to love you and teach you right from wrong until you can prove to the world how very much you are worth and able to accomplish.”

Silence spreads out slowly among the group, a gentle punctuation to the words Ray hopes they’re hearing so they’ll always remember.

Naima gently squeezes Ray’s bicep as she looks up at him, confirming that he’s done talking before she takes over. “Our rules don’t exist so we have cause to punish you; they are to keep you safe. We expect a lot of you, but not more than we know you’re capable of.”

RJ looks up at his parents, his face awash with guilt. “I’m sorry, mom, dad. My friends and I wanted to finish our pickup game and they dared me to sneak out.” He looks over to his sister. “’Meelah saw me and she dragged me back to the car. She yelled at me for making her late for curfew, but she said it was better to be yelled at than leave me out there causing trouble.” He slowly stands up; his shoulders slumped as he awaits his sentencing. “How long am I gunna be grounded for?”

Ray looks at his son and for a moment sees himself as a young teen; memories of all the trouble he’d gotten into briefly flood his mind along with the gratitude that he’d escaped all of that trouble relatively unscathed. “You’re grounded for two weeks, including two Saturdays hanging out with your mom and me all day, and you’re going to clean this house top to bottom.”

“That’s getting off easy, RJ,” Naima says. “Now go shower off all that sweat and get yourself to bed. You’ve got an early day tomorrow as we’re volunteering at the food shelf in the morning.” When RJ huffs and slowly drags himself away, Naima’s smile grows. No teenager wants to spend an entire Saturday with his parents, but she knows he’ll be reminded of how good it feels to help others and want to do more once the day is done.

Andres squeezes Jameelah’s hand then stands and tries to pull her up with him. “Sir, I understand if you want us to have a little time apart, but I hope you know that I really care about Jameelah.”

Ray puts up his hand to stop the teen from continuing to trip over his words. “I know you’re a good young man, Andres. If I wasn’t sure of that I wouldn’t be letting you date my daughter at all.” He smiles as he watches a little of the stress fall off the young man’s shoulders. “I’m also grateful to you for helping Jameelah bring her brother home and keeping them both safe.” He holds out his hand for Andres to shake; the young man’s confidence visibly increases with the praise. “As long as you keep showing us respect and treating my little girl,” he smiles big as Jameelah rolls her eyes, “like the princess she is, then we’re good.”

“Though we would love it if you also came and helped tomorrow, too,” Naima interjects. “Or I could also get you in as a volunteer at the hospital once in awhile. It’d be great to have on your college applications.” She smiles big as she winks.

“Moooom,” Jameelah groans.

“Actually, ma’am,” Andres says as he holds Jameelah a little closer, “I was thinking about joining the military rather than going to college.” He nods slightly towards Ray. “Like you, sir.”

“Well, then get ready for a lot of sleepless nights,” Ray says as he chuckles. “Both of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just want to point out I'm a white woman and only understand the broad strokes of challenges that come with being BIPOC in America. So this is my humble interpretation of a difficult conversation that not every family has to have. I hope I haven't offended anyone with this take, but I felt this prompt called for dipping my toe into such a topic even if I couldn't adequately portray it. I'll also admit I'm not sure I'm always capturing Ray as strongly as I might for other characters, so this was also a challenge for myself to work on his voice and mannerisms a little more.


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